


Brown Eyed Girl

by clevernotbrilliant (clairevergreen)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-12-21 05:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11937750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairevergreen/pseuds/clevernotbrilliant
Summary: Perri Laughlin had a weakness and her name was Raven Reyes.





	1. one

It wasn't hard to see how Mount Weather had changed everything. Even at its worst, the ground had still held some sort of magic. It was their escape, their second chance and it may have tried to kill them from the moment they arrived, but it still felt like _theirs_.

Now, it finally felt as scary as it should have from the beginning. Perri knew that no one was going to be waiting behind a tree to drag them back for more experiments, but she couldn’t get the feeling of that needle stabbing into her hip out of her mind. None of the others would admit it, but she could tell by the way that looked over their shoulders, by the way that Harper still flinched each time she had to come into the med bay, by the way that Raven refused to come within fifty feet of it, that they all felt the same way.

Everyone liked to stare at the forty-four of them that had been held in Mount Weather like they were waiting for them to explode. It had been a week since they had made it back to Camp Jaha, but Perri still felt like an outsider. She didn’t know how to act around the Arkers, especially not Abby or Kane. It was like they were an entirely different culture now. Even Jackson didn’t seem to know how to act around her anymore, which made her presence in the med bay as uncomfortable as it had ever been. She could barely spend ten minutes with him and Abby before wanting to bolt out of there.

She had started wandering around the camp for something to occupy herself instead. Even with the hundreds of people that now made up Skaikru, they needed fewer doctors than when it was just one hundred of them. She couldn't tell if there truly were fewer people getting hurt or if Abby still didn't trust her as much as she did Jackson, but either way, she couldn't get used to not having something constantly happening on the ground.

Even though Abby didn’t seem to want her anywhere near the med bay, being a doctor still had its perks. No one stopped her when she ended up in places she shouldn’t be. The guards just waved her through without a second thought and everyone else who saw her just assumed she was on some sort of errand from Abby.

She was still lost in thought when she heard a crash and shouting coming from just up ahead. Her head snapped up and it took her a moment to realize she had wandered into the engineering corridor. She hesitated for a second before continuing, taking care to be as quiet as she could. The voices continued, but all she could make out was that they belonged to a man and a woman as she got closer to the door. There was another crash that sounded like parts falling on the ground as she reached the open doorway.

“Just get out!” she heard the woman shout and she was just about to place the voice when someone came flying out of the room and ran right into her.

“Sorry,” Wick said like an afterthought, hardly stopping as she stumbled back into the wall. Perri watched him walk down the corridor. As soon as he was out of sight, she exhaled loudly and turned back to the door. After seeing who had rushed out of the room, she was certain who the female voice belonged to. She inched closer until she was standing in the doorway. Various parts of machines and projects that she couldn’t even begin to name were strewn all over the floor and a couple of boxes sat amongst the mess next to the shelves.

Raven stood with her back to the door, a hand gripping the table like she needed it to hold herself up. Her shoulders were tense and she was staring down at the mess without making any sort of move to clean it up. Perri bit her lip and—with the logical part of her braining telling her to just keep moving—walked into the room.

“Wick, I said get out,” Raven snapped as she heard Perri’s footsteps and spun around to face her. The hard look on her face softened with surprise as she realized who was behind her.  “Perri, sorry, I-I—” She wiped at her face and Perri looked down at the ground, pretending that she hadn’t noticed.

She said nothing, just walked over to the parts on the ground and bent down to start putting them away. “You don’t…you don’t have to do that,” Raven said, her voice catching at the beginning. Perri ignored her and continued to separate the two different kinds of parts into piles. “Seriously, you don’t need to do that,” Raven said again, her voice getting slightly louder. “Perri, stop, I don’t need you to—”

“Look, I’m putting these away no matter what you say, so if you want them in the right place, you might want to tell me where that is,” Perri cut in as she looked up at Raven. She could tell that she wanted to argue with her.

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it and looked out towards one of the windows. Perri waited, holding one of the parts in her hand until Raven sighed and held out her own. “Give me a box,” she said, not looking Perri in the eye.

Perri leaned over and hooked one of the black tubs on her finger, dragging it over to her so she could hand it to Raven. “‘Worm gear?’” she asked, sitting down on the floor as Raven took the box.

“The flat ones,” Raven said. She pulled one of the stools over and lowered herself down on it. She still avoided eye contact, but Perri didn’t miss the wince as she all but fell back onto the stool. “Start handing them over if you’re so determined to help,” she said after a beat.

They worked in silence, Perri passing over the flat gears as she came across them. Neither one met each other’s eyes and despite how small some of the gears were, their fingers never touched either. It should have been just as awkward and uncomfortable as it was any time she was alone with Abby, but for some reason, with the hum of the various machines and Raven sitting just a few feet away, she felt more relaxed than she had since they first landed on the ground.

All too soon, she was handing the last of the gears to Raven. She grabbed her box full of parts and stood up, twisting to the side to stretch her back out. Seeing the empty spot near the top of the shelf, she reached up to push it back into place, standing on the tip of her toes to just barely reach it. She turned to grab the other box from Raven and almost jumped, not expecting her to be so close.

Raven didn’t seem to notice and held out her box. “Here,” she said, finally looking Perri in the eye. Perri nodded as she grabbed the box and quickly turned around, not trusting herself to speak. She could feel her neck flushing as she took her time getting it to fit back into its spot, trying not to think about how she had never noticed that Raven’s eyes had bits of gold in them.

When she couldn’t put it off anymore, she turned back around, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Raven had moved back to the stool by the table, already messing with something else. Perri stood there for a moment, going back on forth on what she should say or if she should say anything at all. “So, I’m, uh…I’m gonna…go,” she finally got out, inching towards the door. When Raven didn’t look up, she kept walking, thoroughly confused about what had just happened.

“Perri.” She stopped at the door and turned around, her hand on the doorframe. Raven had looked up from her project, an unreadable expression on her face. “Thanks.” Perri nodded and with that, Raven turned back to her project, signaling the end of the conversation.

Perri nodded again to herself that time before heading back down the corridor. She paused for a second once she was out of sight of the door, a small smile finding its way across her face. A quick glance around let her know that she was still alone and she continued her wandering, her thoughts now overtaken by mechanics with pretty brown eyes.


	2. two

Sleep hadn’t been easy to come by in the past three weeks. Every time Perri closed her eyes, all she could see was the faceless masks of the Mountain Men as they came for them time and time again. She could feel the cold needle jabbing into her hip despite all her yelling and screaming. More than once she had woken up in a cold sweat, convinced that she was back in Mount Weather.

  
That night, she cocooned herself in her blankets, not for the first wishing that she could have shared a room with anyone; she wasn’t picky. Even with the hums and noises of the pieces of the ark working, it was still too quiet for her sleep. They had hardly been on the ground three months—and she had spent most of those inside—but she still missed the sounds of the woods and few animals that still lived there.

  
She nestled herself farther into her nest and squeezed her eyes shut, willing her body to let her sleep. She was just at the point of starting to drift off to sleep when a banging her door jolted her awake. She all but jumped out of her bed, her heart pounding. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she ran a hand through her hair as she pulled open the door.

  
Wick stood there with his hand raised as if he was going to knock again. “Oh, uh, Raven…Raven said you’d probably be…be here,” he said. He sounded out of breath and the way he kept looking anywhere but at her made him seem more than a little lost.

  
“Can I help you, Wick?” she asked when he didn’t continue, trying to stifle the yawn she felt building in her throat.  
Her question seemed to focus him and he dropped that hand that he had been running over the back of his head. “Raven didn’t want to go to the med bay, so she sent me to find you."

  
Instantly, Perri was wide awake. She reached over and grabbed her jacket that was thrown on the floor and shrugged it on as she shut her door. "What happened?" she asked, suddenly all business.

  
Wick seemed taken back by her change in demeanor, but started to lead her down the corridor. "She and I--Well, she was working on the rover and cut her arm."

  
Perri glanced down at her watch. "She's working in the rover at one in the morning?"

  
Wick shrugged, but Perri could see the tension in his shoulders. "I just go along with whatever she says." Perri didn't say anything else, just tugged her jacket tighter around her as they walked. After what felt like much longer than it should have been, they finally reached the garage. Perri immediately started looking around for Raven. Wick walked ahead of her and she followed him around to the other side of the rover.

  
The driver’s door had been opened and Raven was sitting on the floorboard, her head resting against the door frame. As soon as she noticed Wick and Perri, she sat up. “You’re a lot harder to find than I thought you’d be,” she said. Her voice had its usual cocky tones, but the way she winced as she used her left arm seriously undercut her bravado.

  
“Yeah, well, I tend to be forgettable,” Perri said distractedly. She walked right over to Raven and frowned at the oil smudged rag that they had wrapped around her arm to keep it from bleeding.

  
Raven seemed to notice her frown as Perri pulled over the rolling stool that she had assumed Wick had been using. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” she said quickly as Perri started to untie the rag.

  
She just gave Raven a look and started to unwrap it. She was very much aware of Wick hovering over her shoulder, but she did her best to focus on the wound in front of her. The blood that had soaked through made the rag stick a bit to Raven’s arm and when Perri finally got to the cut itself, she frowned. “Jesus, Raven, were you trying to cut off your arm?” Perri asked. The edges of the cut were slightly jagged with one end deeper than the other. Raven flinched when she touched it and when Perri glanced up, she was biting her lip.

  
“If you had just let me help, we could have avoided this,” Wick said as Perri continued to look at the cut.

  
Perri could feel Raven’s muscles tense up as he started talking. “I don’t need your help for everything,” she snapped in response, the tone in her voice making it obvious that it was not the first time they had had that conversation. “I’m not some helpless little—”

  
“Just because you can do it by yourself doesn’t mean you have to,” Wick said, cutting her off.

  
Perri gripped Raven’s arm tighter as she made like she was going to get up. “If you two want me to do this, you both are going to shut up now,” she interrupted, glaring at both of them. They fell silent, but she could feel the tension that was still in the room. She sighed and started wrapping the rag back around Raven’s upper arm. “Okay, Wick, I need you to leave. Now.” He started to protest, but she cut him off. “You’re obviously not helping, so unless you know how to stitch a cut with uneven margins so it doesn’t leave a scar, I suggest that you leave.” Wick stood there for a moment, but Perri stared him down until he turned around and walked silently out of the garage.

  
“Can you really make it not leave a scar?” Raven asked as Wick’s steps faded away.

  
Perri shook her head as she started tying the rag back onto her arm. “No, but it sounded good, didn’t it?” Raven sighed and leaned her head back against the side of the rover. Perri finished tying up the rag and stood up. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable,” she said and Raven leaned her head forward enough to look at her. “I can’t fix this here.”

  
Raven sat up straight, her eyes narrowing. “That’s the whole reason I got you. You’ve fixed worse with less than we have right here.”

  
“Yes,” Perri said, “but if I don’t have to then I’d rather not.” Raven still looked unconvinced. She crossed her arms, wincing lightly as the action stretched her cut. Perri sighed. “She’s not going to be there. Jackson covers the overnight shifts and he always gives me a heads up if she’s coming in.” Raven looked at the ground and Perri knew that she had her. “You’ll be in and out in twenty minutes.”

  
Raven sighed and held out her hand for Perri to help her up. The irony of Raven refusing Wick’s help only to practically beg for hers was not lost on Perri, but she was not about to bring it up. She grabbed Raven’s hand and pulled her to her feet. The second her feet hit the floor, Raven started for the med bay, leaving Perri to rush after her.

  
The walk was silent for the first part, Raven refusing to look over at Perri. She fiddled with her fingers, throwing constant looks over at Raven. Her eyes kept moving from the brace on her leg to the bandage on her arm and finally settling on her face. There was a tightness in her jaw that Perri logically knew was just because of the cut on her arm, but the look in her eye made her think that there was something more there.

  
“How did it happen?” Perri finally blurted out, breaking the silence. Raven looked over at her, confusion written all over her face. “The cut, I mean,” Perri added.

  
“Oh,” Raven said, shaking her head slightly like she was trying to clear it. "I was fixing something on the top of the rover and just scratched myself."

 

"Scratched yourself?" Perri repeated before she could stop herself. "Raven, it looks like you tried to slice your arm open."

  
The look was back in Raven's eyes. "It's not that bad--"

  
"I don't care how bad you think it is," Perri cut in. "Lying to me isn't going to get you anywhere." She paused and weighed the consequences of her next words. "I'm not Abby."

  
Raven whipped around and for a brief second, Perri was certain that she was going to punch her in the face. Almost as fast as it had crossed her face, the look disappeared and Raven kept walking. “I shifted my weight wrong and the stool fell out from under me," she said, snapping Perri out of her thoughts. "I went grab at the side to catch myself and must have caught my arm on something."

  
Perri was quiet and despite herself, glanced down at the brace on her leg. "You shifted your weight wrong?" she asked, starting to wonder if Abby really did have a point with making Raven come in.

  
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?" Raven said, but despite her intention, Perri could hear a slight bit of amusement in her voice. Perri looked down at the ground and shoved her hands in her pockets, the two of them falling back into silence as they walked.

  
Once they reached the med bay, Perri put a hand on Raven’s arm to signal her to stop. She slowly pulled the door open, trying to keep it as quiet as possible. Peeking her head in, she could see someone over by the medicine cabinets and she waited until they passed under the light to let out her breath. She motioned to Raven to follow her and pushed open the door the rest of the way.

  
Jackson turned around as the two of them walked in. “Hey,” he said, raising an eyebrow as he saw Raven behind her. “Abby shouldn’t be coming in tonight—what happened to your arm?”

  
Raven glanced between Perri and Jackson before answering, “Wasn’t paying attention in the garage.”

  
Perri nudged her over to one of the chairs as she walked over to grab the supplies. She reached up for a suture kit and turned to grab the antiseptic, but Jackson was already standing there with it. “Is that what really happened?” he asked quietly so Raven couldn’t hear.

  
Perri looked over her shoulder, but Raven was too busy looking around to notice them. “Yeah, she slipped off her stool and cut herself on the rover,” she said, grabbing the supplies from Jackson.

  
He gave her a pointed look. “You know Abby’s been trying to get her in here since you all got back,” he said as she walked over to get the local anesthesia. “She didn’t…she wasn’t exactly herself after the explosion—”

  
“I know, Jackson,” she cut in, turning around to face him. “She just accidentally cut herself. That’s it.” Maybe it was the look on her face or maybe it was the fact that Raven seemed to have realized that she shouldn’t be taking that long to get the supplies, but Jackson just nodded and moved out of her way.

  
She pulled one of the rolling stools over to Raven and shrugged off her jacket. Jackson watched over her shoulder as she cut off the bandage, letting it fall to the small table she had the supplies on. “Do you want help with that?” he asked as Perri tossed her hair up into a ponytail before she started cleaning the wound. She was about it say something snappy in response when Raven beat her to it.

  
“No offense, but I’ve watched her sew Harper’s cheek back together with a fishing hook and Monty’s moonshine,” she said, looking over at Jackson, “so I’m gonna go with her.”

  
Perri tried and failed to keep a smile off her face as she turned to Jackson. He shook his head and held up his hands. “Add that to the ever growing list of stories I need to hear,” he said as he went back over to the medicine cabinets.

  
Perri smiled and rolled her eyes, turning back to Raven and slipping the rubber gloves onto her hands. She grabbed the small syringe with the anesthesia and held it up. Raven’s eyes got wide as she noticed the needle. “It’ll just be a pinch, I swear,” Perri said, lowering her voice. “It’ll be over in less than a second.” Raven didn’t say anything and she still had that deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. Perri raised the syringe and before she shot it into Raven’s arm, she said, “You ready?” Raven nodded and looked away as Perri quickly shot the anesthesia into her arm.

  
Raven let out a sigh as Perri set the syringe down and grabbed the needle and thread. She quickly and easily stuck the thread through the end and tied it off, trying to go as quickly as she was comfortable with. The longer it seemed to take, the more worked up Raven seemed to be getting, like she was still worried Abby was going to walk though the door. Perri saw Raven staring at her and instead of asking her out loud, she just held up the needle as a question. There was the smallest nod from Raven and Perri leaned forward to start, putting her hand on Raven’s arm.

  
“Can you talk and sew at the same time?” Raven asked suddenly, just before she was about to start the first stitch.

  
Perri glanced up and saw Raven once again looking away from her, her jaw set. Perri rested her elbow on the table for a second, throwing a glance over to where Jackson was still standing and pretending not to be listening in. “Yeah, I can talk and sew,” she said, straightening up and holding the needle up again.

  
“Why’d you want to be a doctor?” Raven asked, going with the most obvious question given their situation.

  
Perri waited until she had started the first suture to answer. “I wanted to be able to help people,” she said, picking her words carefully. “I saw what happened when people didn’t get the help they needed on the Ark and I wanted to make a difference.” Raven snorted and Perri glanced up for half a second. “What?”

  
Raven shook her head as Perri tied off the stitch and started with the next one. “I just…I guess I wasn’t expecting such a…noble answer from you.”

  
Perri frowned, but didn’t stop moving her hands. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, unable to keep the defensive tone out of her voice.

  
“Nothing,” Raven said quickly. “I mean, you’re close with, uh, with Murphy so I just thought—”

  
“Thought that what, I couldn’t want to be a decent person cause we’re friends?” Perri shot back, pausing and reminding herself not to pull the thread too tight on the stitch. She noticed Jackson glance over at her raised voice out of the corner of her eye, but he stayed where he was.

  
A quick glance showed a faint flush in Raven’s cheeks. “I didn’t mean—”

  
“I know what you meant,” Perri said, tying off her stitch. “Talk about something else.”

  
Raven was quiet for a moment and Perri took advantage of it to get two more sutures in. At some point, Jackson had left, giving her one of his over-protective-I-will-be-right-outside-you-better-call-me looks. She ignored him and was just about to start the next stitch when Raven spoke up.

  
“Tell me about Mount Weather.”

  
Perri almost dropped her needle. “Do you want me to finish this or are you determined to make me go get Jackson?” she snapped, trying to not give away how hard her heart started pounding the second Raven mentioned Mount Weather.

  
“No, no, I didn’t,” Raven started. She faltered and then took a breath before continuing, “I just want to understand…how it all happened.” Perri was quiet and went through three more sutures. She could feel Raven get more and more tense as the silence went on.

  
“It didn’t start out bad,” she said quietly after a minute. She tried to keep her hands steady as she kept talking. “The food was better than anything I had ever tasted in my life and we were clean for the first time in who knew how long. It felt like…I don’t know, a paradise or something. Like everything that had been attacking us was gone…” She trailed off as she tied another stitch and started on the next one.

  
“I feel like there’s a but coming,” Raven said.

  
Perri finished her suture and then paused, collecting herself to get her hands to stop shaking before she started again. “It felt…wrong being so closed off. Like worse than Sky Box. At least I knew then that I was going to be able to see the sky again, but there…at times I felt like I was suffocating.” She could feel Raven’s gaze on the top of her head, but she ignored it. She didn’t really want to cry in front of a girl she hardly knew. “And when the experiments started, it was…we never knew who was coming back or if they were coming back or who would be next.” She felt the prickle of a tear and started to hurry up with the last few stitches before she couldn’t see them anymore.

  
“Were you…I mean, did they ever…” Raven started and Perri stiffened at what she knew was coming.

  
“You’re all, uh, you should be good now,” Perri said, quickly standing up to grab a bandage to put over the cut. She rubbed at her eyes again, pushing the thought of the cold exam table and the sound of Cage’s voice as he told them to take whatever they needed out of her mind. She turned back to Raven and taped the cotton pad over her stitches, ignoring how her work had started to get sloppy by the end. “Just keep it clean and stop by to have either Jackson or I look at it once a day for a few days. Let us know if you have any trouble with it,” she said, stripping off the gloves she had put on.

  
Raven slowly got out of the chair and Perri grabbed all of the used supplies, hurrying over to get rid of them so she didn’t have to talk any more. Dumping it all in the hazardous waste container, she tucked her hands under her arms to hide how they were shaking. She hadn’t talked to anyone about Mount Weather and here she was spilling her guts to a girl she only vaguely knew because she happened to help save her dead ex-boyfriend’s life that one time. Not exactly the basis of lifelong friendship.

  
She jumped at a tap on her shoulder and knocked her elbow on the side of one of the cabinets as she spun around. Raven hesitated with her hand still in the air, like she wasn’t expecting such a dramatic response. “I just, uh,” she said, suddenly looking unsure of what she wanted to say, “um, thanks. For…you know…”

  
Perri gave her a closed lip smile and nodded, turning back to the sink. “Don’t mention it,” she said dismissively. She turned on the water, hoping to signal the end of the conversation. She didn’t hear any footsteps at first, like Raven was waiting for something. After a few seconds, Raven’s footsteps moved back towards the door and slowly got quieter as she walked down the corridor. Perri let out a breath and felt some of the tightness in her chest loosen.

  
Another set of footsteps made her turn around. “Hey,” Jackson said as he came back in. “Are you okay?”

  
She nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she said. She switched off the water with her elbow, wincing as the handle pushed on where she had just hit it.

  
“Well that was convincing,” he said. He ducked as she threw a rag at him. “I’m serious. You seemed a bit…off earlier.”

  
She gave him a small smile that quickly dropped off her face as she reached up and tugged her hair out of it’s ponytail. Stretching the elastic between her hands more out of stress than anything else, she answered, “Yes, Jackson, it’s really fine. It’s just, uh…I’ve never…it’s complicated.”

  
“Mhm,” Jackson said, an annoyingly superior smirk on his face. Perri ignored him as she grabbed her jacket and started to walk out of the med bay. She was just about to pull the jacket on when he spoke again. “So Raven Reyes, huh?”

  
Almost instantly, she felt her face start to flush and she stumbled slightly. When she looked over at him, the superior smirk had turned into triumphant grin. She quickly broke their eye contact as she scrambled to get herself back together. “Goodnight, Jackson,” she said forcefully, shoving her ams through her jacket and brushing past him. His laughter followed her down the corridor until the door shut and cut it off.


	3. three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It was Murphy.”

If Perri had thought that Jackson would have dropped the whole “Perri-has-a-crush-on-Raven” thing, she was sorely mistaken. It was nearly constant for the next few days with little jabs and comments worked into their conversations. No one else seemed to notice, but by day four, she was about ready to punch him in the face.

“Well, look who decided to show up,” Jackson said as Perri walked into the med bay.

She raised her eyebrow as she walked over to him, grabbing some of the supplies off the cart next to him. “Yeah,” she said, walking farther down to the right shelves. “I do still work here. Unless there’s something you’ve forgotten to tell me.”

“No, I know,” he said casually and Perri glanced over at him. “I mean, unless someone told Abby that you snuck a certain someone in here and used the supplies without her knowing—”

Perri almost dropped everything she was holding as she whirled around to face Jackson. “You didn’t.”

“Of course not,” Jackson scoffed. “Come on, you know me better than that.” He paused, a grin on his face as he put the last of their needles into a drawer. Perri rolled her eyes and turned back to focus on her own task. “Now, telling her that you spend all your time with Raven instead of working…”

“Jackson!” Perri snapped, whipping back around to glare at him.

“Kidding, kidding!” he said, the grin still on his face. “You should really learn to lighten up.”

“Eric Jackson, I swear to god,” Perri growled, throwing a roll of gauze at him as he laughed. She felt her cheeks start to flush and quickly shifted her head so her face fell into her face. “You are dead to me.”

Jackson put his hand over his heart like he had been wounded. “That’s cold, Laughlin,” he said as the door creaked open. “That’s really cold.” Perri stuck her tongue out at him before turning to see who had come in.

She blamed the almost instantaneous blush that crept up her neck as Raven walked in on Jackson’s near constant teasing the past few days. She quickly ducked her head, cursing her decision to braid her hair back. As she heard Raven’s footsteps making their way into the room, she busied herself with stacking the supplies in her arms, using all of her willpower not to look over.

“Hey, are you busy?” Raven asked, stopping right next to Perri.

Perri glanced up briefly before focusing back on the supplies in her arms. “Uh, we were just—”

“No, she’s not,” Jackson said from across the room. “I can finish up here.” He walked over and physically pulled the supplies out of Perri’s hands with a smile.

“Uh, okay, cool,” Raven said, looking between the two of them. For a moment, it looked like she wanted to say something, but then thought better of it and continued, “It won’t take long.”

Perri shot another glare at Jackson before turning back to Raven. “Lead the way,” she said in what she hoped was a casual tone, gesturing to the door. Raven looked between the two of them one more time before walking back towards the door. As her back was turned, Perri ran her hands over her face before heading after her.

“Have fun,” Jackson said under his breath, just loud enough for Perri to hear him as she passed.

“I hate you so much,” Perri muttered, following Raven out of the med bay.

Raven half-turned and raised her eyebrow as the door shut behind them, no doubt curious about the exchange that she had just watched. Perri continued to look straight ahead, clearing her throat. “So what exactly am I helping you with this time?” she said, tugging on the sleeves of her jacket. All of Jackson’s teasing was running through her head and she could feel how awkward she was about to become.

Raven bit her lip and Perri could tell that she was dying to change the subject, but thankfully didn’t press the matter. “Just some wiring issues,” Raven said, waving her hand dismissively. “Nothing too big.”

“Oh, yeah, just some wiring issues,” Perri repeated as they turned the corner. “Let’s ask the doctor to fix the wiring issues instead of trained mechanics, she’s totally qualified—”

“Okay, calm down,” Raven said, giving her an amused look. “It’s not that hard, anyone could do it.”

“I’m glad you think so highly of my skills,” Perri teased.

Raven turned to give her a look. “You know what I meant,” she said, her tone light, and Perri couldn’t help but smile. They both fell quiet as they continued to walk down the corridor. Perri could feel her heart beating against her chest and she was shocked that Raven hadn’t noticed it. As she went to tuck her hands into her pockets, her hand brushed Raven’s arm and her mind immediately went into panic mode. She tried to subtly move over, putting more space between them, and her cheeks started to heat up again despite all her efforts. Not wanting to find out if Raven had noticed, she refused to look over at her, staring straight ahead and keeping her hair in between the two of them.

They finally turned a corner Perri could see one of the rolling toolboxes sitting a few feet away from the wall, a few tools scattered beside it. “There’s a loose connection somewhere along here that’s messing with some lights down there,” Raven said, nodding down the corridor as they reached the toolbox. Perri slowed as she noticed the panel that was laying on the ground beside the box and glanced up to see a spot along the top of the wall that was exposed. Raven grabbed the toolbox that was a few feet away and said, “I need you to climb up there and find the loose wires and connect them back together.”

Perri stopped in her tracks. “I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” she said as Raven pushed the toolbox over to the wall.

“I’ll talk you through it,” Raven said.

Perri shook her head and took a step back. “This is definitely something for literally anyone else to do.” She turned and started to walk away.

“Perri, wait,” Raven said. Perri stopped and turned back around. Raven opened her mouth and then closed it just as quickly, like she had wanted to say something and changed her mind. She crossed her arms and looked away for a moment before saying, “You’re the tallest, so it’ll be easiest for you to reach.”

“Ah, and the truth comes out,” Perri said, ignoring the fact that Bellamy and Miller both had a good couple of inches on her. She walked back over to Raven, shrugging off her jacket, and looked up at the panel that had already been taken down. “And here I thought you picked me cause we’re almost friends.” She tossed her jacket towards the toolbox and held out her hand for the tape, glancing over as Raven gave it to her. She looked up at the ladder that had been built into the wall and took a deep breath before starting to climb.

“Wait, we’re friends,” Raven said suddenly when Perri was about halfway up.

Perri stopped and sighed. “Okay, climbing a ladder is not the same as sewing a cut,” she said, refusing to look down. “Can’t really talk and climb at the same time.”

“It’s easier than you think,” Raven said dismissively as Perri continued her climb. “But seriously, we’re friends.”

“Raven, we’ve had a total of three conversations longer than a handful of sentences not including this one,” Perri said as she reached the top. “One of those was me sewing your ex-boyfriend back together and another was sewing you back up so—”

“Well, now I know you don’t shut up when you’re nervous,” Raven said, her tone frosty. Perri was about to say something in response when Raven interrupted. “You’re going to have to lean over to reach it.”

Perri broke her rule and looked down at her. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she said, clinging tighter to the rung.

“Just put your foot on the wall,” Raven said with a note of amusement.

“You’re enjoying this far too much,” Perri grumbled to herself. She stared at the wall under the open panel, looking for anywhere to stand. A light fixture caught her eye and she took a deep breath before reaching out with her foot and wedging it as close to the wall as she could. Slowly, she shifted her weight and grabbed at the opening like it was a lifeline, letting out her breath as she realized she was secure. She glanced back down, ignoring the amused look on Raven’s face. “So what now?”

“Look for the patch,” Raven said. “A smaller piece of wire connecting two others.” Perri nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She quickly shifted her grip to the edge of the opening and started rifling through the wires.

“So now I know you aren’t a fan of heights,” Raven said after a moment. “That’s something friends would know, right?”

“Jesus, Raven,” Perri said. “What’d you want to do, play twenty questions so you can say we’re friends?”

There was a beat before she answered, “Sure, why not?”

Perri stopped and looked down. “That was a joke. You know, something people say when they’re trying to be funny?”

“Oh, come on, it could be fun,” Raven said, brushing off the sarcasm.

Perri sighed. “Alright, fine,” she relented, going back to her search. “Ask away.”

“Why’d you get arrested?” Raven said without hesitation, like she had been waiting for an excuse to ask.

Perri snorted. “Try again.”

There was a pause as Raven thought up another question. “What were your parents like?”

Perri bit her lip and rested her arms against the opening for a moment before answering. “My dad worked on the CO2 scrubbers which was probably the worst job you could have on the Ark and he was still the most positive, friendly, genuinely good person I have ever known.” She paused for a moment and cleared her throat. “My mom was a cook and she always meant well, but it never quite came across that way.”

“Did they make it down?” Raven asked quietly.

“Um, no,” Perri said, pushing some hair out of her face. “My dad died in an accident when I was eleven and I haven’t seen my mom since before I was arrested.” She leaned in to look closer at a wire. “What about you?”

She glanced down when Raven didn’t answer right away. She was passing a roll of tape between her hands, not looking up. “I don’t really remember my dad and my mom wasn’t exactly the model parent,” she said, her voice monotone.

She tossed the roll of tape back into the toolbox with a little more force than necessary. Perri looked back at the wires, a bright red one catching her eye. “Okay, I think I found it,” she said quickly, steering the conversation back towards a more comfortable subject. “Uh, the power is off to this, right?”

“Yeah, why?” Raven asked, still a little distracted.

Perri gingerly picked up the wire and held it up for her to see. Only one side of the wiring was still attached, barely. The other was loosely hanging from the thinning and frayed piece of tape, the two wires nowhere near touching each other. “Even I know you’re supposed to use electrical tape for wires,” she said.

“Alright, twist them back together and then tape it up,” Raven said.

Peri shifted her foot again, sucking a breath in as she felt herself slip a little. She threw another glance down at Raven. “So did you always want to be the youngest zero-G mechanic in 52-years or are you just that naturally talented?”

Raven snorted as she looked up. “Well, I was hoping for fifty, but you take what you can get. What about you?”

“I am, in fact, just that naturally talented,” she said as she carefully peeled off the old tape. “But no, I didn’t always want to be a doctor.” She rested her elbows on the edge of the opening as she gingerly started twisting the wires back together. “There was definitely that little while where I wanted to be chancellor. And then I got realistic and decided I wanted to be a guard.”

“A guard? Really?” Raven said.

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Perri said, doing her best to balance while wrapping the tape, “I kind of have a thing for helping people.”

“But still,” Raven said as Perri tore off the end of the tape, “guard to doctor is a bit of a leap.”

Perri didn’t answer right away as she pulled herself back over to the ladder, wobbling as she regained her footing. “People do a lot of things when they think they’re above you,” she said vaguely as she started to climb down. “You notice a lot when you’re the bottom of the totem pole.”

“Mhm,” Raven said as she reached the bottom. “Alright then, drama queen. Who was your first kiss?”

Perri stiffened as she handed the tape over. “What are we, twelve?” she asked, tugging at the ends of her hair.

“That’s a thing friends tell each other,” Raven said off-handedly as she tossed the tape on top of the toolbox and started to push it down the corridor.

“So you know all your friends’ first kisses?”

Raven gave her a look. “Come on, it’s not gonna hurt anything. Look, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

“That’s not a fair deal,” Perri said as she sped up to push open the door in front of them. “I know who yours is. I’m not an idiot.”

“Okay, what about the first one that wasn’t him?” Raven offered as she wheeled past.

Perri chuckled. “As if I don’t know.” Raven stopped and gave her a surprised look. Perri smirked. “Like I said, I notice things.” Raven looked straight ahead as she started walking again, but Perri could see the blush creeping up her neck.

They walked in silence, Perri continuously shooting glances at Raven. She knew she had probably crossed a line with that last comment, but she was having fun with the back and forth…and she still may have been more than a little jealous. “Alright fine,” she said, gaining Raven’s attention, “but you are not allowed to judge me.”

Raven raised her eyebrow. “And why would I—”

“It was Murphy.”

Perri almost ran into the toolbox with how fast Raven stopped. “Please tell me you’re talking about another Murphy,” she said.

“See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Perri said in frustration as she walked around the toolbox.

“No, no,” Raven said and Perri could hear the toolbox rolling after her. “I’m sorry, I just…really? Him?”

Perri sighed and stopped to wait for her to catch up. “We were twelve and best friends. How’s that different than you and Finn?”

She watched as Raven searched for the right answer as they continued on their way. “I don’t know,” she finally said, nodding to one of the hallways off to the side. “He’s just…he’s  _ Murphy _ . I mean, he shot me, he tried to kill Bellamy, I just…it’s different.”

_ He’s not the one who shot eighteen people just because he could _ , she thought, biting her lip to keep from saying it out loud. She may not have been a fan of Finn, but she wasn’t about to screw up the potential friendship she and Raven had going. “He’s not a bad person,” Perri said instead, shoving her hands into her pockets. “He’s just…made a few really shitty decisions.”

“Just a few?” Raven joked as she pushed the toolbox into a darkened room, but Perri could hear the bite in her voice.

“Look, I know you don’t like him, but I think I know him better than you do, alright?” Perri snapped, unable to keep her voice neutral.

Raven held up her hands as she backed up. “Okay, okay,” she said, gesturing towards the light switch by the door. “Wait there, I’ll tell you when to flip it.” Perri didn’t say anything, just leaned against the door and stared down at the floor. “You know you get awfully defensive anytime his name comes up?” Raven said as she walked over to the other side of the room, throwing a glance over to Perri.

“No, I don’t,” Perri said as she stood by the light switch. She winced as she heard her words, knowing how they sounded.

“Yes, you do,” Raven called as she yanked open the fuse box. “So what, did you guys have a thing or something?”

Perri shook her head even though she knew Raven couldn’t see it with her back to her. “No, god no. It’s…it’s an old habit. If you hadn’t figured it out by now, he’s not exactly well-liked anywhere he goes and I’m usually the one stepping in.”

“So you’re telling me the guy was your closest friend for your whole life and you never once thought about it?” Raven asked.

Perri ran her finger over the words on top of the light switch. “He’s not exactly my type,” she said before she could stop herself.

Raven laughed as she started pushing switches. “Oh, that’s a good one,” she said. “‘Not my type.’ Then what exactly is your type? Someone who isn’t a lying, backstabbing—”

“Female,” Perri interrupted. Raven stopped dead and turned to stare at her. Perri looked down and scuffed her toe on the ground. “My type is female.”

Raven stared at her with her mouth slightly open. Before Perri could say anything else, she turned back to the fuse box and cleared her throat. “Um, you can, uh…go ahead and just…try the switch.”

Wordlessly, Perri hit the switch on and the lights blinked on, flickering slightly before settling on a low hum. Raven straightened up and shut the metal door, locking it shut again. “Is that all you need?” Perri asked as she walked back over.

Raven stopped in front of her, tucking the keys back into her pocket. “Yeah,” she said, not looking away from Perri. “Yeah, that’s all.” Perri turned around without saying anything else and walked out of the room. She yanked down her sleeves and wrapped her arms around her chest as she took a deep breath to steady herself.

“Perri.” She stopped and turned around. Raven stood just outside the door looking down at the ground, her hands shoved in her pockets. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking up. “For what I said about—”

“No, you’re not,” Perri said. She paused as Raven looked down again and put her hand against the wall. Perri took half a step forward and rested all her weight on her heel before giving in and walking over to Raven. She lightly touched Raven’s arm, causing her to look up. “But thank you,” Perri said quietly, giving her a small smile.

Raven nodded and hesitated for a moment, rocking back and forth on her heels, before heading back into the room. Perri stared at the place she had been for a second, crossing her arms over her chest. She ducked her head and twisted her fingers around the fabric of her jacket before turning around, already preparing herself for the relentless teasing she knew was waiting for her back in the med bay.   
  



End file.
